Make Your Body Burn More Fat on Its Own!

There are many things in life that doesn't work in the "more-the-merrier" manner, unlike what most people think, dieting and exercise are just two of such examples.

Many overweight people achieved incredible amount of weight loss when they change their lifestyle, that is by eating less and exercise more. But they soon reach a weight-loss planteau, the speed and amount of weight loss start to slow down and even stop. They become so eager to continue losing weight that they stop eating proper meals, and they do cardio exercises like running and biking for few hours, DAILY.

Problem is, what if these people hit another weight-loss plateau? Are they going to increase their exercise duration to 24/7 just to lose extra pounds?! That just doesn't make any logical sense.

What really happen to these people is, as explained by Yahoo Health:

Our bodies are built to survive, so when you exercise for long periods of time (often and consistently) your body thinks it needs to hold on to fat for energy. Doing short (12-15 minute), intense exercise sessions builds strength and burns calories, but not fat, so it “feels safe” using fat stores for energy after exercise.

So if you run everyday for 30 minutes, you are turning your body into a fat-sparing machine. So what is the ideal strategy to keep your body efficient in burning fat and to spare your precious time for social life than to be stuck in endless cardio exercise?

1. Instead of running/biking everyday for 30min, exercise in short, intense bursts (interval training) for effective fat burning after exercise. E.g. Run for 10-15min at 80-85% (depends on your fitness of course ) max heart rate (MHR) instead your normal routine of 30min at 65% MHR

2. Build more lean muscle by increase the amount of resistance/strength/weight training you do. Muscle is ‘metabolically active’ and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you’re not moving. Don't worry, weight training is NOT going to make you look like body builder that easily.

3. Chill on the amount of food you are eating.

Here is a sample five-day/week training schedule for you:

Day 1 Weight training for big muscle groups (Back/Chest/ Legs) and short & very intense cardio training , e.g. 15-minute fast run/walk or fast cycling sprint intervals. Day 2 Moderately long, moderately intense session (30-45 minutes) of strong walking, cycling, or Pilates Day 3 60-90 minutes of a moderately paced walk/hike. Day 4 Short & very intense cardio session, e.g. 15-minute fast run/walk or fast cycling sprint intervals. Day 5 Weight training for big muscle groups (Back/Chest/ Legs) and moderately long, moderately intense cardio (30-45 minutes)

It would be great if you can add on daily Pilates practice to your training scheule too! But remember, more does not equal to better. Make sure you practice Pilates exercises with control and precision. Repetition is never the emphasis in Pilates.

Alvin - Session #3

Session 3 again focused on shoulder movements and strengthening, through the proper use of seated row machine. When using the seated row machine, most people are only concerned with how heavy they manage to row and completing a "set". However the most important thing is actually to row with proper shoulder stabilisation. because without stabilising the shoulder joints, one cannot fully activate and thus strengthen the back muscles, which was what the exercise supposed to achieved. Thus much time was spent to make sure Alvin can row and activate his back muscles properly.

misalignment was also noted in Alvin's lower body, thus I worked on his alignment for both standing and walking. though it is not possible to correct the misalignment within a single session, Alvin will at least be more aware and conscious about the way he should stand and walk which should prevent further perturbation to his posture.

Since Alvin would like to, besides correcting his posture, put on some bulk, I have requested him to give me a complete food diary (which should record down everything he ingests) for 2 typical weekdays and 2 weekend days. this will then allow me to understand his eating habits and from there to develop diet modifications to help him increase calorie intake.

Do I need Pilates if I'm already Weight Training?

Yes! Weight trainers should also do Pilates, as they have particular benefits to draw from Pilates. Many weight-training exercises tend to concentrate on isolated muscle groups, where the muscle "bulk up" over time. Pilates simultaneously strengthens and lengthens your muscles uniformly, creating supple power.

Moreover, Pilates saves precious time by training all the small (but important) and deep stabilizing muscles along side with the large ones, which would otherwise be very time-consuming to train using traditional weight training method (imagine doing 3 sets of 15 reps of weights for each and every small muscle!)

By training the stabilizing muscles and teaching the body to move in good motor control, Pilates will make every movement more efficient and powerful, allowing the weight-trainer to train harder and reap more benefits from each weight training session. It also help to prevent injuries from weight lifting too.